Electric car parts?

"BaconSandwich is tasty." (baconsandwich) 01/23/2016 at 11:50 • Filed to: None

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This is something that has crossed my mind a few times now: is there anyone that offers electric car components as a kit to build your own electric car? I know there’s a few different outfits out there that have, say, batteries, or just motors, but is there anyone that offers everything in one package?

I remember reading a few years back that some guys were using electric motors built for forklifts. There’s been a few different 3D printed cars, but not a ton of info about where the drivetrain components have come from. From what I’ve seen, they’ve generally been taken from something like a Renault Twizy ( !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! ). Surely there’s got to be some other folks out there offering a sort of car parts menu that lets you put together your own package.

bob and john > BaconSandwich is tasty. 01/23/2016 at 11:57

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really, all you need is a batter, a electric motor, and some way to control the juice.

not that hard in theori.

attach motor to your drive-shaft/axles/diff/whatever. wire to battery and controller. voila.

davedave1111 > BaconSandwich is tasty. 01/23/2016 at 11:59

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Sadly, no. IMO that’s the kind of thing GM ought to be doing, whether with electric or IC motive power.

BaconSandwich is tasty. > davedave1111 01/23/2016 at 12:01

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Well, if that’s the case, I’d call that a business opportunity. I figure there’s going to be an upcoming generation of hot-rodders who are going to want to make electric things, not just gas.

davedave1111 > BaconSandwich is tasty. 01/23/2016 at 12:05

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I don’t disagree, but it’s the kind of business idea that needs billions to make it work, I think. Hence why I reckon the GM bailout was a missed opportunity to sell off the brands and make GM a manufacturer of parts/platforms/drivetrains/what-have-you. If a car manufacturer could go to GM and buy anything from a platform to a door-handle the way they can buy a crate engine, I’d bet Saab would still be in existence.

My X-type is too a real Jaguar > BaconSandwich is tasty. 01/23/2016 at 12:20

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These folks do that, sort of

http://www.e-volks.com/index.html

BaconSandwich is tasty. > davedave1111 01/23/2016 at 12:41

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I think a person could start off small, though: start with just batteries, then start finding things like charge controllers, DC-AC converters, that sort of thing. The tricky bit is getting things that can fit together using common connectors. I know there’s a few open-source parts out there, but like any other open source projects, they seem to take an incredible in-depth knowledge on every single piece in order to actually use it. That shouldn’t necessarily be the case - it should more or less be “plug it together, and it works”.

BaconSandwich is tasty. > bob and john 01/23/2016 at 12:43

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That’s what I keep thinking. If parts started standardizing on common connectors, it’d (in theory) be pretty easy to piece something together. Want a bigger battery pack? Fine. Want a faster/more efficient charge controller? It plugs in.

The Transporter > BaconSandwich is tasty. 01/23/2016 at 12:55

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There are a number of companies that offer EV conversion kits. EV West has kits that will allow you to convert an ICE car into an electric car. Their Beetle conversion kits even include all of the brackets, pre cut wires, and batteries for the conversion. If you want a full EV kit car you’ll need to use a different source for the chassis and the powertrain. One of EV West’s kits is explicitly for the Factory Five 818. You could also use their Miata kit to power an Exocet kit from Flyin’ Miata.

BaconSandwich is tasty. > The Transporter 01/23/2016 at 13:02

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That’s pretty neat. Thanks for the link.

davedave1111 > BaconSandwich is tasty. 01/23/2016 at 13:03

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There are, I think, some options out there for that kind of thing. The problem is more one of the lack of economies of scale inherent in small production runs. Until you’re producing at least tens of thousands of your product, there’s going to be a big price penalty compared to the output of a big manufacturer.

Manwich - now Keto-Friendly > BaconSandwich is tasty. 01/23/2016 at 14:34

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Lots of places to get complete kits (but usually the batteries are extra). Here are two:

http://www.canev.com/kits.php

http://www.evwest.com/catalog/index.…

And before you take on a project like that, I recommend you read this article (though it’s out of date when it comes to batteries) that has advice from people who have already done it:

http://www.hybridcars.com/top-7-issues-e…

AAAAnnnd... instead of tackling an EV conversion project, you will probably be better off just buying a used BEV like this low mileage Nissan Leaf for $10,000:

http://www.autotrader.com/cars-for-sale/…

There are MANY Nissan Leafs available for that price or less (as little as $7000).

Or you can get this Smart ForTwo Erectile Dysfunction (seriously... they call it the ED in Canada, but “electric drive” in the US) for less than $7000:

http://www.autotrader.com/cars-for-sale/…

Or a Mitsu MiEV for $7400 to $8000 like this one:

http://www.autotrader.com/cars-for-sale/…

The cost of doing your own conversion will likely be at least $10,000... and that would be with using shitty lead acid batteries. A *good* conversion with modern Lithium-Ion batteries will be at least in the $25,000 ballpark.

When you factor in that you can get a decent used, low-mileage Nissan Leaf for half that (or 2/3 to 3/4 of that if you want to also spend some money doing the Nissan battery pack upgrade), it really doesn’t make sense to do your own BEV conversion anymore unless you want something very specific that isn’t available.

BaconSandwich is tasty. > Manwich - now Keto-Friendly 01/23/2016 at 15:54

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To me, it wouldn’t be about saving money - it’d be about building the kind of vehicle that I want. Sort of like how it’s cheaper to go pick up a used Corvette than it would be to scratch-build your own hot rod.

I’ve seen iMievs down into the $6k (USD) range. That’s seriously getting down there, and once Elon’s gigafactory kicks in, I can see battery prices getting even lower.

But yeah, time and money. Those two are always the kicker.

Manwich - now Keto-Friendly > BaconSandwich is tasty. 01/23/2016 at 20:37

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I totally understand about building the vehicle you want. I’m just saying that it’s important to consider whether it’s worth it given what’s already out there.

Instead of buying a kit (which will cost more when you include the battery cost), just buy a used Nissan Leaf, strip it for everything you need and sell off/scrap the rest.

OR... just modify a Nissan Leaf into what you want.

Doing that would be like building your hot rod using a cheap/used Corvette as a base that you then modify.